The servicing of tanks in an industrial or commercial environment, i.e. the transfer of a flowable medium to or from a tank, has been traditionally achieved by aligning (generally referred to as "spotting") one or more tanks parallel to a fixed platform filled with filling-ducts so as to provide for access to the tank by personnel involved in the filling operation. The tank must be carefully positioned relative to the fixed platform to provide for the proper positioning of the filling-duct into the orifice of the tank. This is generally achieved by maneuvering the tank such that the tank is moved to the proper "spot" relative to the filling ducts on the fixed platform. Since access to the tank by the personnel carrying out the filling operation is also required, generally for the purpose of carefully aligning the duct with the orifice of the tank, the spotting of the tank becomes critically important. Unfortunately, to place the tank in its correct position relative to the fixed platform the tank must be moved to the correct "spot" by means external to the tank, e.g. a locomotive. Accordingly, the time and personnel which must necessarily be employed preparatory to the filling operation can be time consuming and expensive. This is especially true when railroad truck cars are being filled since the tank cars must usually be uncoupled prior to the filling operation; this being solely for the purpose of enabling the correct alignment of the tank car in relation to the fixed filling platform, i.e. to allow for correct "spotting" of the tank car. Further, this required alignment of the tank requires that a locomotive or similar device be dedicated to the filling operation, since the incidence of use for the filling operation is high, or costly delays will occur. This involves a costly capital investment for such a dedicated locomotive or like device.
The time and cost associated with the use of a conventional fixed filling platform should also be considered in view of the significant safety aspects of employing a filling system which requires constant movement, coupling, uncoupling, etc., of tank cars during the filling operation. Any filling system which reduces the risk of injury to the personnel associated with the filling operation by way of reducing unnecessary movement of the tank cars will necessarily result in an improvement in the overall safety of the filling operation.
The conventional fixed filling platform employed in industrial and commercial facilities today and discussed above are concrete and/or steel structures permanently affixed at a designated location in the industrial or commercial facility. The platform is equipped with one or more loading arm assemblies (typically of the top loading or bottom loading type) typically with a platform at the tank filling height or vertically adjustable to the height of the tank after the tank has been correctly spotted. The loading arm may be most any of the conventional and commercially available types such as a sliding tube assembly, "A" frame assembly, bottom transfer assembly, rail car assembly, or any of the commonly available loading arm assemblies (such as available from Emco Wheaton Inc. Catalog E-12/71, Rev. 9/74, 5M 10/80, "LOADING ARM ASSEMBLIES").
In addition to the safety, capital cost and time aspects associated with a fixed platform loading system, such a system has certain other undesirable features. For example, not only is such a fixed system dependent on a dedicated locomotive or like means to continually move the heavy tanks to and from the "spot", but the constant movement of such loads, generally in excess of 1000 tons, involves a high capital expenditure in terms of the cost of the energy used to move such loads. Further the time intensive spotting operation is equally costly. Further, the fixed nature of such a conventional system makes maintenance (such as for repairs, general maintenance, cleaning, etc.) difficult since it necessary to move elaborate repair, cleaning and/or maintenance equipment to the fixed system. Since the fixed filling system is generally in a remote region of an industiral or commercial facility e.g., associated with a railroad yard or a truck yard, this requires that the maintenance be carried out at considerable inconvenience and cost. Further, such a fixed system is dedicated to carrying out all filling operations at only one location and cannot provide for many of the filling or transfer needs present elsewhere at a facility, such as the transfer of a liqud from a single tank at multiple locations.
Although commercial and industrial users of the fixed filling platforms have recognized the limited usage, high capital expenditure, and high operating costs associated with such fixed filling platforms, this system remains today as the commonly employed system in the industry owing in large part to the lack of availability of any alternative system.
The use of a mobile filling system in an industrial and/or commercial environment wherein the tank(s) would remain stationary relative to the filling system during the filling operation has not heretofore been disclosed in the art since the available hydrant services (such as used in the aviation industry and as available from Garsite Products, Inc., 10 East Grant Blvd., Deer Park, L.I. N.Y.) were single servicing units with design deficiencies, e.g. the lack of rigid connector for the filling means, and thus were unsuitable for the multi-tank filling requirements found in industrial and commercial facilities. Further, when employed in filling a tank car, be it a railway or roadway car, the known hydrant servicers did not provide for access to the tank car since such access was not required when filling an airplane with fuel since the means by which access to a specific tank was obtained was simply by the movement of the hydrant servicer to the single airplane tank. These and other deficiencies made such hydrant servicers totally unsuitable for the industrial and/or commercial servicing of tank cars.
To obviate these problems the instant invention provides for a tank-servicing system wherein the problems associated with the conventional fixed platform filling system are overcome by providing a system having a mobile frame, variable (i.e. multidirectional), ducts, and variable access means which by integrated interaction during the servicing operation significantly decrease the time and cost associated with servicing tank cars. This mobile tank-servicing system is generally referred to hereinafter as "Bessy".